A 17-year-old Palestinian student, Ismail B. Ajjawi, was detained and deported after touching down at Boston Logan International Airport, in Massachusetts, United States on Friday night, as he prepared to begin his freshman year at Harvard University.
The Washington Post reports that Ajjawi was detained at the airport by U.S officials for several hours and later denied entry into the U.S over social media posts made by his friends.
Ajjawi said that, initially, he was detained with a handful of international students. As the others were released, however, he was questioned about his religious practices and social media activity.
The Harvard Crimson reported that U.S. officials detained Ajjawi for eight hours. After interrogating the minor and searching his phone and computer, they revoked his visa and sent him home to Lebanon.
According to a statement by Ajjawi, an immigration officer claimed she “found people posting political points of view that oppose the U.S.,” though she discovered nothing Ajjawi had posted himself.
“After the 5 hours ended, she called me into a room, and she started screaming at me. She said that she found people posting political points of view that oppose the US on my friend[s] list,” Ajjawi wrote, describing what happened after the officer searched his gadgets.
“I responded that I have no business with such posts and that I didn’t like, [s]hare or comment on them and told her that I shouldn’t be held responsible for what others post.”
Then, the Crimson reported, Ajjawi’s visa was revoked and he returned to Lebanon.
Harvard spokesman Jonathan L. Swain said in an emailed statement:
“The University is working closely with the student’s family and appropriate authorities to resolve this matters so that he can join his classmates in the coming days.” Classes begin Sept. 3.
Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in an email that the department is
“responsible for ensuring the safety and admissibility of the goods and people entering the United States. Applicants must demonstrate they are admissible into the U.S. by overcoming all grounds of inadmissibility including health-related grounds, criminality, security reasons, public charge, labor certification, illegal entrants and immigration violations, documentation requirements, and miscellaneous grounds. This individual was deemed inadmissible to the United States based on information discovered during the CBP inspection.”
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A State Department spokesperson said in an email to The Post:
“Visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases. Generally, visa applicants are continuously screened, both at the time of their application and afterwards, to ensure they remain eligible to travel to the United States.”
